Facilities

A 13-year-old patient at a state-run psychiatric treatment facility in Baltimore died from a "possible suicide" Tuesday night after being found unresponsive by facility staff, police and state health officials said. The death is the first at the Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents in Baltimore, a residential facility for patients aged 12 to 18 that opened at its current location in Southwest Baltimore in the early 1970s, said Dori Henry, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The Baltimore school board approved Tuesday a sweeping plan that would close or renovate more than 150 schools, with the goal of bringing the oldest school infrastructure in the state up to 21st-century standards in one decade. The board voted unanimously to approve the $2.4 billion plan, introduced by city schools CEO Andrés Alonso in November. The vote came on the eve of the 2013 legislative session, and a day after Gov. Martin O'Malley said he would devote $336 million to school construction this year.

State officials were right last week to postpone approval of a Department of Juvenile Services contract to increase the capacity of the privately owned Silver Oak Academy juvenile residential treatment facility in Carroll County. The department wants to double the number of beds there, from 48 to 96, in order to reduce the backlog of youthful offenders awaiting treatment in overcrowded lockups. Getting more troubled young people out of detention centers and into treatment where they can receive the help they need is certainly a worthy goal.

Lois G. Caplan, a retired library supervisor and film buff, died Dec. 25 of cancer at her Arnold home. She was 71. A daughter of dungaree manufacturers, the former Lois Gloria Simons was born and raised in Philadelphia, where she graduated in 1960 from North Philadelphia's Olney High School. After training as a laboratory technician, she worked at Philadelphia General Hospital. She married Ivan Lee Caplan in 1964, and they moved to Pikesville. Since 1979, they lived in Arnold.

A plan by the Department of Juvenile Services to double capacity at a privately run residential facility for young offenders was put off Wednesday after state officials expressed concern about the system "backsliding" toward larger, harder-to-manage facilities. Sam Abed, Maryland secretary of juvenile services, appeared before the Board of Public Works to request approval for an $11.7 million contract to grow the Silver Oak Academy in Carroll County beyond the state cap of 48 beds to 96. The move would help reduce a backlog of juveniles who get stuck at detention centers awaiting beds to open up at a treatment facility, he said.

Even as the future of health care and how it will be provided and paid for remain a subject of much discussion at many levels thanks to the enactment of the federal health care reform law that has come to be called ObamaCare by critics and supporters alike, private health care businesses have been pressing ahead with some rather large scale plans. It's hard to drive into east Baltimore without noticing the massive overhaul that is coming to fruition at the already gigantic Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The state Board of Public Works approved Wednesday a $75.2 million grant to help pay for upgrading Baltimore's Patapsco sewage treatment plant, Maryland's second largest. The facility, which can treat up to 63 million gallons daily from the city and parts of Anne Arundel and Howard counties, is in the process of improving its removal of nitrogen, one of the nutrients in sewage that can cause algae blooms and other water quality problems in the harbor and the Chesapeake Bay. Roughly half the project's $327.7 million cost is being paid for with grants from the state's Bay Restoration Fund, which draws revenues from the "flush fee" that every homeowner and business must pay. The city is putting up nearly $49 million, with the remainder coming from other loans and grants, according to the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz's plan to offer some county properties for sale in Dundalk, Randallstown and Towson has the potential to solve a few problems and create better opportunities for some students without any cost to the taxpayers, though it also has the potential to create some new problems, too. As such, it is a perfect example of the strengths and weaknesses of Baltimore County government. If your main concern is efficiency and tight stewardship of taxpayer dollars, you'll be happy.

Baltimore County wants to sell three government properties to developers to raise money for air conditioning and better technology at schools in Dundalk, Randallstown and Towson. County Executive Kevin Kamenetz is expected to announce a plan Tuesday to put the public facilities up for bid and find better spots for the government services located there. The buildings are the North Point Government Center on Wise Avenue in Dundalk, the Towson fire station on York Road, and the Randallstown police substation on Liberty Road.

A Sun article on possible uses for gambling revenue reported that the Baltimore County Public Schools estimated the cost of air conditioning its school buildings at $600 million ("Lawmakers who backed gambling look to collect for local interests,"" Nov. 20). This figure has never been verified by specific estimates for the schools that do not have it. The number seems wildly inflated, and BCPS should be required to prove its accuracy through estimates from independent contractors, not from the Department of Physical Facilities.